Mango Markets Hacker Avraham Eisenberg’s Trial Heads To Jury

The decision regarding the outcome for crypto trader Avraham Eisenberg, implicated in the $110 million attack on Mango Markets, is now being determined by a jury of twelve people in New York.

Avraham Eisenberg at the Mercy of Jurors

According to Bloomberg’s report, these federal jurors are responsible for determining if the crypto trader manipulated Mango Markets’ cryptocurrency exchange to steal $110 million or if his actions were lawful strategies sanctioned by the exchange’s rules. The government’s case concluded with a closing argument on Wednesday.

On Monday and Tuesday, the defense presented its case in court with Eisenberg’s mother and two other relatives present. Notably, despite his lawyers’ prior indication that he might testify, the defendant was not given an opportunity to speak during the trial.

An essential role was played by the testimony of Jeremy Sheridan, a previous Secret Service agent now working as a crypto investigations consultant, in making the argument.

During the past two days, Sheridan emphasized the points that helped Eisenberg execute his trades, while raising concerns about whether those actions, as per Mango Markets’ coding, truly qualified as borrowing transactions.

Sadly, the court dismissed a large portion of his evidence regarding Mango Markets’ codebase, determining that his understanding of it was not comprehensive enough.

Mango Markets Carted Away With $110M

Eisenberg was arrested in Puerto Rico in December 2022, two months after Mango Markets was hacked. 

Before he was identified as the hacker, it was said that 

“They increased the worth of their collateral for a while, and then borrowed large sums of money from the Mango government’s funds.”

After some time, he faced charges for commodities fraud, manipulating commodities markets, and using wires fraudulently, all related to the Mango Markets incident.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) accused Eisenberg of manipulating a swap involving the MNGO token and deceitfully influencing its price. During the legal proceedings, he admitted to returning $67 million obtained through fraudulent means. But Mango Labs sought the remaining funds, resulting in an additional indictment for the crypto trader.

Additionally, the Mango Markets hacker was accused of attacking other protocols too. 

After the attack, the defendant has persistently planned more attacks on Mango Markets and publicly announced them. Additionally, the ill-gotten funds have been employed to target other cryptocurrency platforms. (Company statement)

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2024-04-18 01:44